GM may shut down Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port UK

After GM announced the strategic partnership with PSA – Peugeot Citroen, now the U.S. based automaker plans to shut down its Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, in an attempt to prevent the loss of the 2,100 jobs there.

Significantly both companies said this new cost-saving strategy would be over and above planned cuts backs which the two loss-making car-giants are already considering.

Now, the Government ministers and trade unions are fighting to save one of Britain’s biggest car plants, with GM expected to make a decision by the end of the month, The Guardian wrote.

Business secretary Vince Cable has flown to New York to ask the owners of General Motors (GM) to make a “long-term commitment” to UK manufacturing.

According to some sources, General Motors is seeking to reduce production capacity in Europe by around 400,000 units – the equivalent of two factories. Ellesmere Port and Bochum in Germany have been identified by GM, maker of the Vauxhall and Opel brands in Europe, as among the most likely candidates for closure in a bid to stem European losses that reached $747m last year.